Solex Secondary Barrel

[Paul]

How is the secondary of the Solex actuated. It appears that the secondary on my solex does not open. What can someone tell me about how and when it shoud open?

TIA

[guyopel]

The GT s were linkage .Manta & Kadett were vacuum operated. HTH
Your t/plate may be struck

[Paul]

I thought it looked like a mechanical secondary. But maybe something is missing on mine. Can someone post a picture? I see a linkage and a slot it rides in but nothing ever actually contacts the rod to rotate the valve open.

TY

[gr_diver]

Here is a pic of a Solex with vacuum secondary (not from an Opel, but it should give you an image though) and an Opel GT mechanical secondary carb...

The open round thing on the vacuum operated that is missing on the mechanical is just the automatic-choke housing (could be either electric or water). This particular GT carb was equiped or modified with manual choke cable...

HTH

[duvel]

Its looks like my second barrel is operated with vacuum.
I'm also sure that he's stay closed. What's the next thing to do ? where did the vacuum generated ?

[BQS4]

The vacuum is generated through the carb itself. If you remove the unit, you'll see it has a sealed passage for the vacuum.

[baz]

if the diaphram is split and the secondery does not work you can do a repair by glueing a new bit of latex rubber over the top of the old 1 with rubber glue from a tyre repair kit
i find trojen or durex make the best repair kits and can be bought in gas stations, pub toilets and chemist/pharmisists shops but use smooth ones like durex safe as the latex is thicker and they are no use for there designed use as you cant feel anything

ps clean off the lubrication so the glue sticks good

[duvel]

Thanks again for the (hopefully) good advise.
I will check tomorrow and let you know

[Gary]

if the diaphram is split and the secondery does not work you can do a repair by glueing a new bit of latex rubber over the top of the old 1 with rubber glue from a tyre repair kit
i find trojen or durex make the best repair kits and can be bought in gas stations, pub toilets and chemist/pharmisists shops but use smooth ones like durex safe as the latex is thicker and they are no use for there designed use as you cant feel anything

ps clean of the lubrication so the glue sticks good

So the lubed, "Ribbed" ones will not work Baz?

[tekenaar]

So the lubed, "Ribbed" ones will not work Baz?

. . . only in XL size, with the ribs facing out!

[Gary]

XL??? Really, never knew they existed.....

<<Warning - thread going downhill from here>>>

[tekenaar]

XL??? Really, never knew they existed.....

<<Warning - thread going downhill from here>>>

That! . . . uh, would be your 'shortcoming'?!

[baz]

if this keeps up i think i will get to tell the boss and a senior member to behave and keep it clean

and no, the ribbed ones in all sizes don't work well as they are too thin

[spdkilz02]

WOW!!!

[gr_diver]

When you separate the secondary's vacuum housing from the carb, there should be some gasket-like piece of material around the protruding brass tube, used to seal the passage. Often it gets discarded/lost during removal, and if not replaced the passage is not well sealed, thus rendering the secondary inoperative (and in theory it could also disturb the jetting due to additional air-flow low in the primary barrel...) Just use a piece of electric tape as a gasket (remember to cut a hole for the brass thingy). I have had a piece in there for 3 years and still holds nicely!

HTH

[Paul]

Well to bring this to a conclusion, I did find the secondary unhooked. I found a way to get it working again. But the real solution to my problem was tossing the Solex. It now has a Weber...........

Y'all can now go back to talking about condums and such

[duvel]

I remove the vacuumactuator and yes the gasket was gone !
I follow the recommendations from gr driver and he's working again
The only problem what left is almost no power under 2000 rpm and backfire.
Finally I NEED A WEBER.

[gr_diver]

I had and have this "no power under 2000rpms" condition.

Things that improved it MUCH (to the point that only I can notice it) were:

1) FIX ALL IGNITION ISSUES (including verifying curve's correctness, and vacuum canister operation)

1) carb cleaning (with the carb in-situ). Just make sure that you remove the air-horn and clean the tiny little idle air passages in it as well (one in each side). Remove the idle screws and give a generous amount of cleaner in the passages Also from the top of the carb body down into the idle passage (air-horn and idle-jet removed). About the idle jet, due to it's shape I found difficult to verify clean, and when I boiled it it surely gave out some crud. Retry after these...

2) Incorrect accelerator pump adjustment (check to specs. I also relocated the rod to the upper hole in the throttle spindle which gave a longer and evenly distributed shot (newer "Super" fuel are actually unleaded, and thus burn slower, and the car benefited from the reduced amount/longer duration of the shot).

3) Power valve condition (VERY IMPORTANT). When the membranes get old they loose their flexibility and block the valve OPEN. Result: very rich idle, poor acceleration, lots of black smoke and poor mileage. Replace membranes (why are they not included in rebuild kits? this is weird)

4)After all these are ok, and with adjusting at best idle still no power, try a 1 size bigger idle-jet (verify clean again)

5)If all these give no result, propably the carb was worn throttle shafts, and draws additional unmetered air, just enough to disturb low end jetting. Maybe a 2 sizes bigger idle jet will help, but now we are talking about counter-measures and not real cure. The solution from here on is yours, find a Solex, get a Weber, anything you like best.

[duvel]

Thanks again gr diver; it give me something to do next weekend
I will start with the ignition,that looks most easy. Ther could be something wrong because he's working better if I give 5 ° more then the TDC when he's idling with the vacuum hoses on.

[gr_diver]

I am glad I helped you! And I hope these things get your Opel going better!